


Until We're Free

by MatchstickQ



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Additional Tags to Be Added, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe in general tbh, Catholic School, Grisha Yeager's Bad Parenting, Homophobia, Medium Burn, Mikasa and Levi are related, Multi, Soulmates, Trans Character(s), Trans Levi, Trans Mikasa, Transphobia, and I'm mad at myself for writing it that way, conversion therapy, french levi, is that a thing?, it's like a crack fic that's trying to be serious, multiple actually, possibly more as I introduce more characters, the one where you write on yourself and the other person can see it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:54:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29488602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MatchstickQ/pseuds/MatchstickQ
Summary: A Soulmate AU where whatever you write on your skin shows up on your Soulmate's too.Levi, who's been raised in France by his mother, has to move to America and live with his cousin, Mikasa. They end up having a lot more in common than they think, and although Levi isn't the biggest fan of his new school, he'll admit that America isn't all that bad. That is, until his mother gets sick, and both he and his cousin are forced to attend a heavily Catholic boarding school until Levi is old enough to become a secondary guardian for Mikasa and they can ditch that place. Oh, and to make matters worse? Neither of them identify with the gender they were assigned at birth.Will they make it eight months in this damn school? Why did Levi's Soulmate just up and disappear? And what the hell is up with that green eyed boy that Levi ends up sharing a room with?
Relationships: Armin Arlert/Erwin Smith, Isabel Magnolia & Furlan Church & Levi, Levi & Eren Yeager, Levi & Mikasa Ackerman, Levi/Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman/Annie Leonhart, Sasha Blouse/Connie Springer
Comments: 5
Kudos: 32





	1. Chapter One: The Cards We're Dealt

**Author's Note:**

> So!! I'd like to make a few things clear:
> 
> Number One- Yes, I'm still working on Shifting Lives, I swear!! I wanted to try doing something decently short, to test how much self control I have. This one might have slightly more irregular updates, since SL is still my main.
> 
> Number Two- I am, in fact, a trans person, and yeah, this may or may not be a bit of shameless projection to ease the stress of, well, *gestures vaguely at everything* that. So, the characters in this reflect a bit of my experience, as well as others', so I seriously hope that it doesn't end up sounding phobic or anything of the sort!!!
> 
> Number Three- Do I have only a shaky grasp on the French language and culture thanks to my lovely teacher? Unfortunately, yes. I'll do my best with my notebooks and Google Translate, but if anyone wants to correct me, please do so!!
> 
> Number Four- I've literally only been in a church or holy ground three times in my life, I'm so sorry for when I inevitably get shit wrong about Catholic school. The only people I know who've even been to one is my father and aunt, but asking them would be kind of........weird. Like "Oh hey, totally random, but can you explain in depth about how Catholic school works and how it may have mentally scarred you?" probably wouldn't fly lol.
> 
> Alright, I think that's the main stuff. if there's more, I'll put it in the Ch notes.

Little girls are consistently expected by society to be sweet and feminine. They are told to like princesses, love stories, (only the heterosexual ones though, God forbid they read about something even the slightest bit queer) unicorns, and all that other glittery bullshit that comes with being born without a Y chromosome. Of course, there are those who are considered “tomboys”, meaning that they’d much prefer doing more “masculine” activities, like playing with race cars or catching frogs in a lake somewhere. 

Levi knew, from the very first time he met another kid his age, that he was most definitely NOT a little girl. Or a girl at all, actually.

Immediately, he’d gone crying to his mother, asking why he wanted to be more like Farlan than Isabel, desperately wanting not to be broken like one of his old toys. She’d been more than supportive, talking him through his feelings and telling him all about how there were many people in the world like him, those who didn’t identify with the gender they’d been assigned at birth. Mistakes happen, she’d said, assuring her child that he wasn’t broken in any way for wanting to be a boy. She’d given him options and ideas on how he could handle the new discoveries.

So, at the age of 8 years old, he was assigned a very nice therapist, who gave him lollipops every time he went to talk to her. Both he and his mother had decided that he was far too young for any kind of medical transition, (though Levi mostly didn’t want to do it because he was very scared of the needles that Miss Jessica had shown him) but he was more than happy to change his name to something that suited him more. The old one felt itchy and too tight, like the ugly pink sweater that Isabel made him wear that one time. The name Levi, however, fit just right, and Kuchel was absolutely enamored with his choice.

From then on, his mother was very enthusiastic about calling him “mon fils” instead of “ma fille”, and made sure to change the _la_ ’s to _le_ ’s. Levi was always so happy when he heard that, and despite being a rather shy and quiet child, he could never stop himself from giving her the biggest grin he could make whenever she said anything of the sort.

His hair was cut a few weeks later, and although his mom was disappointed to see his long braids get swept away, the look on her son’s face when he saw his new haircut more than made up for it. Then, it was time for shopping, because Levi had grown rather frustrated at being put into a dress or a skirt every day for school. Thankfully, the principal had been both understanding and sympathetic of his situation, and had quickly approved the name and uniform switch.

Growing up in such a supportive environment made Levi a lot happier than his mother had ever thought she would see him. He didn’t make a lot of friends, since he was still extremely shy around new people, but he got very close to Isabel and Farlan. They had both been in his class since the very first year any of them had been there. Although they were a little confused at first, Levi managed to get them to understand that he wasn’t their best friend Riri anymore, he was _Levi_ and he was a _boy_ , just like Farlan. After that, they continued being fairly normal kids, though Isabel was disappointed that she could no longer be Levi’s bridesmaid at his pretend wedding. (This was quickly solved when she realized that she could still be the flower girl.)

It was at age 10 that Levi was first introduced to the concept of Soulmates. All of the 9 and 10 year olds had been called into a special assembly, where they watched in wonder as some of the parents wrote on their arms, then show that their spouse had matching marks. The main speaker explained that Soulmates were sort of like a best friend that you were destined to meet someday, and that you would probably fall in love with them. Unfortunately, since the assembly hall was filled with pre-pubescent children, that sentiment was met with a lot of “ewwww, gross”, and “yuck, I’ll have to KISS somebody?!”.

At the end of the assembly, they were each handed a non-toxic marker and told to write a little message on their arm or hand. A few of them tried to write their names, Levi included, only to discover that it instantly evaporated whenever you tried to do anything of the sort. The adults laughed at their confusion, and explained that God, fate, the universe, or whatever they believed in wanted them to wait until it was the right time for them to find their pre-determined “forever best friend”. So, Levi ended up settling for writing a simple “ _Bonjour, Soulmate!!_ ”. He was a bit disappointed when he didn’t get a reply, but his friends told him that it was probably because the other person lived in a different time zone, or maybe they just didn’t have a pen on them for the time being.

Much to all three of theirs’ surprise, when Isabel scribbled a big star on her left hand, it popped up a few moments later on Farlan’s. Both of them were very excited about this, and immediately started drawing stuff on each other’s arms to watch in wonder as it faded into existence on their own. The adults were a bit surprised by it too, but they congratulated the two of them nonetheless. Levi felt a little left out by all of this, but both of his friends were quick to cheer him up by drawing a star on his hand, too, telling him that although he might not be their Soulmate, he was still their best friend until the end of time.

The end of time, as it turned out, was another four and a half years, when Levi found out that he and his mom had to move to America. Apparently, Kuchel’s cousin and his wife had been killed in a car accident, and their child was left with a huge house, a shit ton of inheritance money, and no other immediate family. Of course, Levi absolutely hated this idea, and had gotten into his first serious fight with his mom over it. He’d spent six hours crying in his room before Isabel snuck into his window to ask what was wrong, which wasn’t very hard, considering she lived in the apartment above him, and they both had small balconies, connected by an emergency fire escape that got used more often than it should have. He poured out everything to her: how he’d be leaving in a month, how he’d have to start all over in both a new country and a new school, how he might never see them, his teachers, or his therapist ever again.

Isabel, like the good friend she was, pointed out that it wasn’t all bad. Levi knew his Soulmate was from America, something he’d discovered the day after that stupid assembly four years ago. It had been more than a little weird to see words on his arm when he woke up, especially because he had no idea what they said, but he had realized that he could use his phone to figure it out. They’d gone back and forth for a few hours, trying to figure out a way to deal with the language barrier, and by the time his new friend had said that they needed to go to bed, Levi’s entire left arm was covered with scribbles and doodles, as well as some of his legs, too, since they ran out of space. His mother hadn’t even scolded him for it, just gave him a knowing smile as she ruffled his hair.

His redheaded friend also pointed out that they could keep in contact by texting or letters, something he’d been too distressed to consider beforehand. They already had each other’s contact information, which came in handy whenever Isabel needed help cheating on a test she forgot to study for. Plus, he’d be getting a hell of a house upgrade, along with the chance to see all sorts of exciting things in America. She teased him a bit about how he’d need to get better at English soon, although he was already on his fifth year of learning it. Of course, he’d rolled his eyes and told her that he had a higher grade than her in the class, all in thickly accented but grammatically correct English.

When they told Farlan, he was a bit more disappointed by the news, but he tried to see the silver linings nonetheless. Levi was like a brother to him, so it made perfect sense for him to be rather crushed by the idea of being separated. 

All three of them swore that they’d make sure that their last month as a trio would be their best yet, so when the dreaded day rolled around, they were at least somewhat satisfied with how they’d left things off. They agreed that it wasn’t a goodbye, just a “see you later”. In fact, that was what they’d called to each other as Levi’s taxi started rolling away. Their collective “Á plus tard!” was a promise, saying that they’d be with each other again as soon as they could.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

America was…an interesting place, for sure.

After touching down at an airport in New York, Levi’s mom directed him to a bus that took them to their new house. Along the way, he spotted at least 2 buildings on fire, multiple terrifyingly tall skyscrapers, and a shit ton of random little shops set up on the side of the road, typically for whatever odd food a “hot dog” was. There was, much to his disappointment, not a single, decent-looking café within a kilometer of his new house, only a few Starbucks shops here and there. Really, did Americans think that that iced, super-sweet bullshit counted as tea?!

Despite all of the oddities of his new city, Levi found it sort of nice, in a lively, chaotic, urban kind of way. (Emphasis on the chaotic, the whole place seemed like an over-populated mess.) The parks seemed nice, at least, and the actual place that the new house was in seemed like a decent enough neighborhood. Well, he said house, but it really looked like more of a mini mansion compared to his tiny apartment back in France. If his family had this much money, why did his mom have to work two jobs?

As they walked up to the driveway, a kid about Levi’s age came out to meet them, along with a man in a tuxedo. Government worker, probably, to make sure that Kuchel’s custody over the new kid was all signed off and ready to go. His mother shooed the younger two off, telling them to introduce themselves while she finished the paperwork. Levi, of course, wasn’t very thrilled with that idea. He was still iffy about talking to new people, even those who he would be living with from now on.

“I’m Levi,” he offered, reciting the words that he’d practiced in the best English he could manage. His voice took up the monotone flatness that he used around strangers, in an attempt to make it seem less high-pitched than it actually was. “And I’m apparently your cousin. Nice to meet you.”

“Mikasa. Likewise.”

The other kid looked down, hands fidgeting as they slouched uncomfortably in their oversized hoodie. Levi recognized the stance a bit more than he would have liked to admit. He often did something similar whenever he was feeling particularly unhappy with his body. Maybe he and his cousin had more in common than he thought.

Cautiously, he decided to take a chance and offer something that would hopefully help. “My pronouns are he and him. What are yours?”

He didn’t miss the slight widening of his cousin’s eyes, nor the slight smile on their face as they replied, “She, her, and hers. Thank you for asking.”

Ah, so he’d been right. Well, at least they had that much going for them. 

“Do you want to go inside?” she asked, changing the subject with all the grace of an elephant trying to do ballet, “It’s pretty warm out here today, but it’s normally only low 80’s in early June.”

Levi assumed she was referencing temperature in the American scale, but his brain immediately freaked out at the thought of it being anywhere above 35 degrees. He couldn’t be bothered to convert it though, so he just nodded and let his cousin lead him inside the big house.

“Um, do you happen to have a pen? I need to do something.”

Mikasa reached inside her hoodie pocket and passed him a blue, ballpoint pen. He took it and rolled up his sleeve, before writing ‘ _I just landed in America, my mom and I are moving here indefinitely. Think I’ll see you here?_ ’ on his left wrist, already hoping for a reply that he knew probably would never come.

“Your Soulmate?” his cousin asked, nodding towards his now inked up arm.

“I don’t know if they will respond, but they live in America and I thought I should tell them I moved here,” he explained, hoping to avoid further conversation on the topic.

“Are they not very talkative?”

“You could say that, oui.”

Levi didn’t offer anything more. He was still bitter about the fact that his Soulmate hadn’t responded for two years now, except for the occasional “Please stop writing to me, I don’t want to get in trouble,” that showed up or a few minutes before immediately being washed off by his other half. There hadn’t been any explanation. One night he had been writing fragments of English mixed with French to talk about how he hated one of his teachers, and the next morning he’d woken up to all of it scribbled over with black ink. He’d made multiple attempts to ask if his Soulmate was mad at him or something, but it was always replied to with some variant of “Please stop”, or “I can’t talk to you”.

“Anyways,” he sighed, trying to push out the slight ache that crept into his thoughts at the memory, “Would you mind showing me around? This place is very big, I will probably need some time to adjust.”

“Sure, follow me.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

It took another few weeks for Levi and Mikasa to really start getting used to each other, although Kuchel absolutely adored the younger girl from day one. After that, though, they started talking a bit more frequently, and by the end of the summer, they had become something close to friends. Of course, it wasn’t anywhere near what he, Isa, and Far had, but he at least felt comfortable enough to talk to his cousin about his life before America. They’d never explicitly said anything about their identities, though they both had come to a silent understanding that neither of them were comfortable with their birth gender. 

Occasionally, Mikasa would show up in Levi’s room and offer various articles of clothing, mostly things that were too tight for her shoulders or waist that would fit Levi with a bit of room to spare. He’d sometimes do the same, chucking old sports bras or skinny jeans into her room like they were grenades he wanted to get rid of. It wasn’t like he really needed the former anymore. His mother had given him a binder once he started getting absolutely disgusted at the way he was developing, and his therapist had started prescribing hormone blockers around the same time, so he was at least decently flat, even though he still hated the slight curve that showed up whenever he was in just a shirt.

But, as fall slowly got closer and closer, Levi realized that he’d soon have bigger concerns than getting to know his cousin. He was dreading starting at a new school, though Mikasa promised that he’d be a “Freshman”, meaning that everyone else would be starting all over again. Still, he knew that he’d stick out, being a French transfer student with an accent he couldn’t quite get rid of. He wouldn’t have anyone he knew there with him, either, since Mikasa was still two years below him, at a different school.

Unfortunately, as the first day rolled around, he realized that he was entirely too correct. Multiple people tried to come up and talk to him in very shitty French, and one kid had tried to say something in what sounded suspiciously like Spanish. They were all complete fucking strangers, too, just assuming that it would be fun to strike up a conversation with the new student. He ignored most of them, and instead decided it was best to get between classes as quickly as possible.

On the bright side, it seemed like American school was a hell of a lot easier than what he’d been doing back home. He knew a lot more than most of his classmates, and he got nearly full marks on every assignment he did. This got him a reputation as a bit of a standoffish nerd, which was enough to at least convince everyone to leave him alone. Well, minus one kid with glasses who he had the misfortune of being paired with in Biology. They had taken a bit of a liking to him, and by that he meant that they kept annoying him until they got a response. Even then, they still hung around and dragged him to weird social events in an attempt to make friends with him. He somehow managed not to punch them, but the urge was growing with every day that they tried to make him talk to their odd little friend group.

By the end of his first year, Levi was at the top of his class academically, and he’d even been somewhat forced into making at least one almost-friend, besides Mikasa. She was his favorite American, honestly. The others were so personal and up in his business, which was something he didn’t think he’d ever get used to. 

Unfortunately, the nice little bubble of being the indifferent French kid was burst in his second year, when he found out that hormones were apparently a fucking disease to American teenagers. He was incredibly glad that he was still on his blockers, because he’d never forgive himself if he became like those horny little fuck monsters that he had the misfortune to call his classmates. For whatever stupid, God-awful reason, the majority of the female student body had decided he was somehow _hot_.

This turned out to be one HELL of a mixed blessing. On one hand, it meant that he was passing well enough to attract straight girls, and even a handful of the not-so-straight guys, if the looks he got in the hallway was any indication. On the other hand, it meant that everywhere he fucking WENT in that lawless horror of a school was filled with random people asking for his Snap or his Insta, as if he actually participated in shit as vapid as that. Similarly, it meant that a lot more people were trying to be like Four-Eyes, except that instead of ranting to him about some weird theory they’d come up with for the week, they would try and flirt with him, sometimes badly enough that he wanted to snap and tell them how to do it properly. God help the poor souls who ended up being these assholes’ Soulmates.

So, at the end of year two of his adventures at an American high school, he was still at the top of his class, but he had unwillingly become rather popular. Mikasa thought this was fucking hilarious, and had said she couldn’t wait to join next year so that she could make fun of him. The two of them were rather close by that point, and Levi could actually hold conversations with her without it feeling forced or awkward in any way.

However, Mikasa never got the chance to see Levi’s little fanclub. Or the school he went to, for that matter.

Levi had thought it was just a passing cold that his mother had caught, or perhaps just a simple case of pneumonia. But, just two weeks before school was due to start, he got a call from a hospital saying that she’d been diagnosed with lung cancer after she’d been found outside the house, passed out on the pavement. One of the neighbors had called 911, and she’d been rushed in an ambulance to the nearest ER. All of this happened while Mikasa was bringing him to meet some of her friends, after a long time of refusal and excuses not to go.

Naturally, the only thing he could do was blame himself for the accident as his and Mikasa’s social worker tried to find a good situation for them, since his mother was in and out of the hospital. Technically, since Kuchel was still alive, they couldn’t go into the foster system, but Levi just barely wasn’t old enough to be considered an adult, let alone a secondary caretaker for his cousin.

After around two months of legal debates and possibilities that Levi was too lodged in a spiral of self-loathing to listen to, the social worker said that their best bet was going to a boarding school. Getting into one wouldn’t be a problem, not with both of their grades and the possibility of scholarships, but they’d have to choose one within a month, and then enroll there. Somehow, Mikasa managed to be the responsible one, and mentioned that one of her friend’s dad was the principal of a Catholic school not too far away, and that she could probably ask her friend to see if his father was willing to let them enroll.

The decision to go was arguably one of the worst choices that Levi had ever made, but he was more than a bit desperate, and had no concept of what exactly an American Catholic school was like. Mikasa had warned him that it would probably be a bit rough, though he’d figured he’d be able to coast through until he was 18, and he could switch back to a normal school once he was a legal adult.

Honestly though, “a bit rough” didn’t even begin to cover it.

Levi had grown up in (an admittedly small corner of) _Paris, fucking France_ , and if he’d thought that there had been a bunch of religious stuff there, that was _nothing_ compared to that singular, sprawling building. The sheer amount of crosses on both the inside and outside was probably enough to fend off vampires within a 50 kilometer radius. He would have been lying if he said that it didn’t make him a little uncomfortable, since he knew fully well that the Bible crowd wasn’t the most…accepting, when it came to the LGBTQ community. You know, the community that he was a part of. Meaning that if he wasn’t extremely careful, _he_ wouldn’t be accepted either.

He couldn’t feel too bad for himself though, because Mikasa’s situation was definitely a lot worse. Kuchel had applied for a legal name and gender change for her a few months back, but it still hadn’t been finalized. Honestly, American laws and legal processes were a pain in the ass, something that Levi now knew from experience. His cousin looked so miserable in the boy’s uniform she had been given, and he could see her slouching as they walked into the painfully church-like building. (What kind of school has fucking NUNS in it?!? Catholic schools, apparently.)

They were greeted by Mikasa’s friend that had gotten them here in the first place, a brunette, green-eyed boy who seemed almost unsettlingly familiar. He winced when he saw her outfit, and offered a brief apology, something about how his dad was an asshole. Well, at least there was one person who wouldn’t hate them in this place, that was a good start. He also introduced himself to Levi, saying that his name was Eren and that Mikasa had talked about Levi a few times. Of course, the idea of someone being let in on his secret made him nearly flinch in fear, even though he knew that Mikasa wouldn’t do something like that.

Eren said that he had been told to act as their tour guide by his father, effectively getting all three of them out of class. He led them to their rooms, which were unfortunately both in the boys’ section of the dormitories. As if that weren’t bad enough, they were getting split up into different spots, because of their ages. Levi was definitely not looking forwards to sharing a living space with a complete stranger. How the fuck was he supposed to change?! Or sleep, for that matter? What if his new roommate noticed that he didn’t exactly have the traditional male body?

Somehow, though, he was lucky enough to have been put in a room with someone who was on vacation for he next few months, for some sort of family thing. Well, at least he wouldn’t have to worry about the roommate situation for a while. Mikasa had assured him that he’d be able to get through just one year of living here, but he was starting to doubt that.

By whatever miracle, Levi managed to breeze his way through the first month without any problems. He was glad that the stupid admirers were gone, though. It wasn’t like kids could express any sort of attraction here, not without having a Bible shoved in their hands and told to remember that holding hands outside of wedlock was fucking punishable by death or something. Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration, but somehow the hall-monitoring nuns could sniff out every boy who (somewhat understandably) stared at the girls’ horribly short skirts. Honestly, what was the point of all this “no relationships or thou shall be smote” shit if they were going to make the uniforms borderline slutty?! Levi’s list of “things that are fucked up in American Catholic schools” was getting bigger every day.

But, since he couldn’t ever do anything without attracting trouble in this fucking country, it was just his luck that some random boy decided that he, of all people, was a great target to take out all that pent-up sexual frustration on. Worse, the asshole was a fucking Prefect too, whatever the fuck that was, so he got, like, permission to invite Levi to a one-on-one tutoring session that he didn’t fucking need in the first place.

The second he walked into that empty classroom, he knew some bad shit was about to go down. Unfortunately, it was also a better option than eating lunch with a bunch of very strict nuns and having to recite some painfully long prayer before he could fucking eat.

It wasn’t even five minutes of trying to tell the Prefect-guy that he really didn’t need help with maths before the asshole decided to not-so-subtly start flirting with Levi. He’d gotten pretty good at shutting down attempts like that before. Unfortunately, this time, he was alone with one very persistent and hormonal idiot who quite clearly wasn’t satisfied with jerking it to the girls’ panties he probably stole. 

Honestly, he was about ready to start pretending he’d forgotten the English language entirely, so that he could cuss that bastard out in French, but before he could even get a fucking word in, he felt himself being pressed to the chair he was sitting in. Asshole-Prefect’s face was dangerously close to his own, leering at him with the confidence that only a 17-year-old boy could ever wring out of his idiotic American monkey brain. 

Before Levi could object or resort to violence in an attempt to get away from the fucking creep, a teacher walked in, muttering something about keys before they noticed that there were two boys in a horribly unfortunate situation. Immediately, the possibly-would-be-assaulter started telling the teacher that it was somehow Levi’s fault, that he had “seduced a child of God with his devilish powers”. Of course, since the asshole was a suck up, the teacher elected to believe him instead of the quiet, slightly androgynous French transfer student.

That mess was how Levi found himself in what was quite possibly the WORST situation he’d ever been in. He was apparently getting switched to the “Deviant Track”, which was a glorified way of saying that he was being put into all Bible studies classes, in… what, an attempt to banish the gay from his body? Fuck if he knew, he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time, and now he was suffering the consequences. Unfortunately, his new track also meant that he would be getting put into a new room, one that would most definitely have a fucking roommate from the same blasted track as him. Why people trying to discourage “homosexual activities” stick two not-straight boys in a room together, Levi had no fucking clue. As far as he was concerned, the whole of Catholic America was officially stupid and backwards.

Once he was dragged to his new room by a very hurried and stressed nun, he was handed some sort of pocket Bible and told to reflect on how he had sinned. That was most definitely going to be dumped in the trash. He had never bothered to actually read any part of the stupid book. It was too confusing, even for English.

After being practically chucked inside, he heard someone come walking out of the connected bathroom that all the dorm rooms had, and turned to see- 

Holy shit. (This was quickly becoming one of Levi’s favorite English phrases, along with any and all variants of the word “fuck”. It felt fucking hilarious to put those contrasting words together.)

“Eren?” he asked, recognizing the brunette who had been frozen in place for the past second or two, “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh………” The brunette’s green eyes were wider than fucking saucers. “I could… ask you the same thing?”

“My story is easy. I was at the wrong place at the wrong time and now the faculty thinks that I’m gay. Which, they aren’t entirely wrong, but still. Fuck them.” Levi almost laughed at how Eren seemed to get more shocked with every word. “Now… _ah, comment tu dis?_ ……Spill the motherfucking tea, sis.”

Warily, Eren sat down on his bed, knees coming up to his chest so he could hug them. “I guess, um, so you know how my father is the principal here?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Well- he, er doesn’t want anyone to find out that…” His voice dropped to a near whisper. “my Soulmate is a guy…”

“Really?! That’s what you’re in here for? Something that is literally destined to happen?”

The brunette’s voice was still incredibly low, and he refused to meet Levi’s eyes. “He says if I avoid him forever, maybe God will forgive me and change my Soulmate.”

Levi couldn’t help it anymore. He burst out laughing, both from the absurdity of this whole mess and all the anxiety that he’d been trying to keep bottled up. Mon fuckin’ DIEU that was the stupidest shit he had ever fucking heard, even while attending a school that avidly denied the existence of dinosaurs.

“Look, kid-”

“I’m not a kid, I’m only three years younger than you!”

“Fine, _Eren_ , that is absolute bullshit.” He sighed, rubbing his temples. Surely this brat knew that just because his homophobic father was an authority figure, it didn’t mean he was automatically correct about everything. “Has something like that ever happened before? No. It’s probably never going to happen, either. Whoever your Soulmate is, they don’t deserve to be disconnected from you forever just because your dad said so. How would you feel if that happened to you?”

Look at him go, Miss Jessica would be proud. He had been in therapy with her long enough to pick up how she got people to answer, at least.

Eren’s knees fell and folded on the bed, clearly starting to relax around the older boy. “Mine doesn’t really talk to me anyways, but I… I’d probably be a little hurt? And confused?”

“Yeah, no shit,” Levi snorted, setting his bags down near his own bed, “Well, since I’m apparently a tempting demon who wants to lure impressionable boys to the way of the rainbow, consider yourself saved from whatever kind of conversion therapy shit they’re trying to pull here.”

“What do you mean? Are you going to fix my Soulmate problem?”

“No, but…” He paused for a moment, wondering exactly why he wanted to help this boy so much. “Listen, you are a friend of Mikasa’s, and you helped both of us. So you better bet that I’m going to find a way to save you from years of emotional torture.”

“That’s-” Eren flushed and kept his eyes on the wooden floors. “Thank you, but how are you going to do something like that?”

“Only eight months until I’m a legal adult. Then I can get out of here and report everything to whoever I’m supposed to tell this stuff to, and I’ll get both you and Mikasa out of here.”

“Do you think we’ll last that long?”

Levi somehow managed to catch Eren’s gaze and keep it so that they were staring each other from separate beds. “I’m French. We are very stubborn, you know?”

The brunette laughed, and some part of Levi was relieved to hear such a soft sound that wasn’t completely terrified. 

Eight months. They could survive eight months, right? Levi had lived through American Public school, surely this wouldn’t be nearly as chaotic. Or disgusting.

Yeah, you know what? They were going to be just fine.


	2. Two: Hell in a Handbasket

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first day of Levi's new track goes pretty fucking horribly, but his new roommate seems determined to make things easier for him. Damn brat is too considerate for his own good, apparently.
> 
> Warnings:
> 
> \- non-graphic mentions of homophobia and transphobia
> 
> \- probably wildly inaccurate descriptions of catholic school
> 
> \- mentions of sensory overload/ general agoraphobia
> 
> \- a bit of crying
> 
> \- mediocre levels of cussing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeye sorry about the wait, I've been working on other stuff. Here it is though, hopefully not too bad. Thank you to the people who commented and left kudos, it motivated me to get off my ass and write this one.

Waking up the next morning was an entire fucking chore, partly because Levi was convinced that if he stayed asleep, he’d be safe from whatever horrible bullshit the day was sure to hold.

Alas, once the sun started making itself known through his second story window, he knew that he’d need to get up before his new roommate did. Yeah, Eren clearly wouldn’t go running to the faculty if he saw that Levi was unfortunately in the possession of a, eugh, _chest_ and _small waist_ , but he figured the less people that knew, the better. Besides, there was no point in giving anyone a chance to treat him differently than any other guy.

Once he was awake and at least somewhat able to stand on his feet, he reached into his bag and pulled out his binder, a pair of the uniform pants, and a neatly folded black t-shirt. That would work for now, at least until he had to put on his proper jacket and shoes. 

He slipped into the bathroom just as Eren started to toss and turn restlessly in his bed, trying to avoid the sunlight that was probably assaulting his eyes. Thankfully, he’d gotten used to changing quickly in the locker room at his old school, so he was back out before the brunette even had the time to sit up, his teeth freshly brushed, and his hair at least somewhat raked through. There would be time to fuss over his appearance later, once his eyes stopped wanting to be closed for another hour or two. 

Eren yawned and waved at him as he pulled his phone off the nightstand, already scrolling through the spam messages of Isabel and Farlan. He hadn’t really _meant_ to be ignoring them lately, he just didn’t really want to talk about how shitty his life had suddenly become. Besides, the six-hour time difference was a massive pain in the ass, so it wasn’t like he could text them right now and expect a reply before he had to get to class. There was also a concerned text or two from Mikasa, asking how his new track was going. Those ones, he did reply to, saying that he had been roomed with Eren. He also threw in a warning about avoiding getting put on this track at all costs. She didn’t need the guilt and pressure of being deadnamed and misgendered more than she already had been in the regular classes. 

“So…” Eren began, pulling the older boy out of his daily news headline scrolling, “Are you ready for your first day?” 

Levi raised an eyebrow and looked at his roommate skeptically. “I don’t particularly want to be here in the first place.” 

"Alright, yeah, fair point. Do you want me to tell you the schedule, or would you rather be horribly surprised by every class?” 

Well, those were both shitty options, but it was better than sitting in an awkward silence until the bell rang. Maybe while Eren was talking, Levi could figure out why he seemed so damn familiar. 

“Sure, schedule sounds fine.” 

Eren started rattling off the times that each of the classes started. Apparently, he had the timetable memorized. 

First up was breakfast, but that didn’t really count because it wasn’t a class. The first actual slot was supposed to be the “ _problem identifying and assessing_ ” class, which, as Eren explained it, was essentially where they’d be yelled at for how they’d fucked up, before being put through some symbolic activity to cleanse themselves of their sin. In the brunette’s case, he was normally told to scrub his arms over and over, until they were practically raw. (Another thing to add to the “What the fuck is wrong with this fucking school” list.) 

After that, it was supposed to be some sort of arts and crafts class, or something. Best Levi could figure, it was probably a way for the faculty to spy on the students’ conversations and find who was still displaying “deviant behaviors”. Like that was a foolproof plan. Did they really think that kids would just start talking about how they had horribly sinned within the past day? That shit was something that would only be said over text, if the students managed to keep their phones from being confiscated. 

Eren said that out of all of these, lunch was probably the least problematic period. He promised to introduce Levi to his band of friends, claiming that this whole thing was a lot more bearable if you had someone to talk to. Of course, Levi was less than thrilled at this idea, but he really had nothing else to do, so he agreed. 

For the rest of the day, they were assigned either horrible busy work, or assignments and homework from their actual learning classes. (How exactly did that make any logical sense?? They weren’t in class to learn the material, how were they supposed to do the homework?) In terms of the busy work, though, essays about how they would follow a better life in the future were apparently the most common, though Eren also warned that the “teachers” occasionally assigned art projects. The brunette had shuddered at the mention of it, so Levi didn’t press, but he was very confused as to how one would go about describing their sins in an artistic manner. Were they supposed to draw comic strips detailing what had led them astray from the path of God or something? 

All in all, Levi thought that the itinerary could have been a whole lot worse. Honestly, doing mindless, drone-like shit for a few months wouldn’t be so bad, right? 

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- 

Oh, how Levi regretted thinking that everything would be okay. He was so, so, _so_ wrong. 

By the time lunch rolled around, he’d had to pray for forgiveness at _least_ 30 times, look at magazine covers of women to “cure his urges”. (Not particularly the worst, but it was weird to have a nun watching his shoulder as he tried to objectively admire the models in the Victoria’s Secret ads) But, the most annoying of fucking all, was trying to embroider a cross and heart onto some useless strip of fabric. Eren had tried to help him with the last bit, but it ended up with their strings tied together, as well as multiple finger pricks. The nun teaching the class had sent them out, with instructions to “reflect on how to love God.” Of course, they had spent the extra 15 minutes nursing their injuries and complaining about the class, but that was beside the point. 

Somehow, Levi had forgotten that he’d promised to eat with Eren’s friends, so he was more than a bit surprised when he was practically dragged to a group of oddly bubbly 15 and 16-year-olds, all of whom seemed invasively curious about him and his past. 

‘ _Come have lunch with my friends, he said. It’ll be fun, he said. This kid’s a fucking liar._ ’ 

“Ooooh, Levi, you’re French, right?” one of them asked, a girl with a ponytail that had introduced herself as Sa-something, “What’s the food like there? I hear it’s really good!” 

“Better than this shitty excuse for a sandwich, yeah. Literal garbage might be higher on the palatable scale though.” 

A few of the younger kids laughed obnoxiously, before carrying on with their conversation, which Levi mostly ignored. They found him hilarious for some reason, even when he was insulting them. He didn’t understand it, but it certainly beat being laughed _at_. 

“You know what we haven’t talked about recently?” the horse-faced brat (Jean, if he remembered correctly. Finally, a name that was easy to pronounce!) sighed, sounding almost wistful, “Café Rose. Do we have plans for the layout yet?” 

The mention of a café caught Levi’s attention, and he nudged Eren curiously, avoiding asking about it out loud. He didn’t want to interrupt or anything, and thankfully the brunette boy had already gotten pretty good at interpreting his slight movements. 

“It’s a coffee shop or restaurant that we’re gonna open once we’re out of here,” he explained, leaning rather close to Levi so that his whisper could be heard. Strangely, the older boy found that he didn’t really mind the invasion into his space. “It started off as a kind of pipe-dream, because we were all so hopeless about ever leaving this place, but now it’s, like, an actual plan. I wanted a flower shop, originally, but a café is cool too. Do you want to join?” 

God, these brats were just so damn hopeful, despite everything that had happened. A couple of them had been there for a few years, and it was amazing that their souls hadn’t yet been crushed like fermented grapes. 

“I’m good, thanks. I have my own stuff to take care of once I’m out of here.” 

He could tell that Eren really wanted to ask him about his future plans, but he didn’t push. Levi liked that about him; he never really pressed for any information that the raven didn’t willingly give. 

“What if we have it almost like a Starbucks in the front,” the buzzcut kid, Connie, started, using his finger to invisibly draw out what he meant on the table, “but if you go through the special door, there’s, like, a ballroom? Or some sort of secret club spot?” 

The other nine or so kids started buzzing excitedly at the proposal, and Levi just couldn’t quite block out all of the gestures and waving going on, nor the consistent wall of noise generated by the chattering cafeteria that was slowly feeding his developing headache. Once again, he berated himself for all of the choices that had led up to that point, starting with moving to America in the first place. He did this about once a day, to remind himself not to make stupid decisions ever again. Somehow, it never worked. 

“Hey Levi,” Eren said, a bit louder than strictly necessary, “That needle scratched you _pret-ty_ darn bad. It kinda looks _infected_ to me… Should we go to the health office and get it checked out?” 

Levi was about to snap at him that there was no fucking way a _sewing needle_ could have made a life-threatening wound, but the exaggerated look on Eren’s face made him stop. Had the brunette somehow picked up on his discomfort, and was now offering him a way out? Did he want to leave for some reason, too? 

If the first one was the case, that was actually… really nice of him to do. Normally, people who managed to notice Levi’s almost imperceptible signs of wanting to get out of an awkward situation brushed it off as his general quietness or uncaring attitude. He’d noticed that the latter had gotten a lot worse after his mom had been diagnosed, and he’d become downright antisocial after being stuck in this hell of a school. It was amazing he’d lasted as long as he did without trying to find some sort of excuse to leave. 

Eventually, he relented with a sigh of “Sure, whatever. Let’s go.” 

Eren looked almost excited as he nodded, briefly touching Levi’s shoulder before starting to walk towards the door. Levi flinched a little at the tap, but ultimately shook it off and followed the brunette to a nearby nun. He explained something about the “injury”, using rather colorful hyperboles and statistics about tetanus. The supervisor sighed and waved them off, clearly not wanting to deal with a 15-year-old chatterbox on a mission, and Eren proceeded to lead Levi into the hallway. 

After a moment of semi-awkward silence, the brunette spoke up. “I, uh— well, as you can probably tell, we’re not actually going to the heath office, so… where would you like to go?” 

Levi was a bit taken aback by that. It had been quite a while since somebody was considerate enough to get him out of a rather uncomfortable environment. Hell, most people never noticed that there was anything wrong in the first place. It wasn’t like he had any major tells, nor did he enjoy disrupting things that other people seemed to be having fun doing.

Eventually, he sighed and formed a reply that didn’t involve being defensive or accidentally rude. “Is there a garden somewhere around here? Or even just a field, that would work too.” 

“Yeah, there’s a garden in the back. There’s a hedge maze in there too, but it’s really more of a regular old spiral.” Eren paused a moment, green-gold eyes curiously fixating on the shorter boy. “Do you like plants?” 

Levi glared at him and crossed his arms. “And so what if I do?” 

“Nothing!! I didn’t mean it in a bad way, I was just curious!” The brunette flushed and dropped his voice nearly to a mumble. “I like plants too… mostly, erm, t-trees.” 

“It’s fine, brat. Why trees though?” 

Eren turned a bright shade of crimson and looked away, voice barely above a whisper. “They’re, um, quiet. Good to climb. Very good listeners…” 

Well, that was a new one. 

“You do realize that it’s because they can’t _talk_ , right?” 

“Of course I do!! But, like— ugh! Nobody gets it!” Eren flopped his arms about, looking up at the sky in misery. 

Some weirdly personable part of Levi was genuinely invested in why Eren talked to trees, of all things. He tried to relax his body language a bit to seem “inviting” (or whatever Shitty Glasses had tried to teach him about psychology last year) but the new brightness assaulting his eyes was making him squint. Damn it, he should have packed sunglasses. 

“So, enlighten me, Lorax.” 

“Lorax??” 

“Because you—” Levi sighed and shook his head, hoping that the joke would dawn on Eren sooner or later. “ _I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees_? Ring any bells?” 

“OH!! Yes, ok, that makes more sense now.” Eren laughed, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “I haven’t read that book in years. Kinda thought it was a French thing at first.” 

“Idiot.” 

The brunette shrugged and grinned his stupid sunshine smile. “Drank dumb bitch juice for breakfast, sorry. Oh, hey, there’s the hedge maze, you wanna go in?” 

Levi glanced over at the tall bushes in the distance, blooming with little white flowers. It didn’t look all too big or complicated, which was a bit of a shame. It would have been fun to separate from Eren, leaving them to try and use some Marco Polo type shit to try and find their way back to— 

What the fuck? Was Levi seriously thinking about playing games with this… this kid? Something had fucked with his head, alright. Maybe he really did have tetanus. 

“Sure, why not,” he sighed, covering up his scrambled feelings with indifference, “As long as you don’t try and talk to the bushes, then your dumb ass can get lost and left behind.” 

“Nah, bushes are too loud. Besides, I have an actual human to talk to today!” 

“I’m not sure which part of that I should be more concerned about.” 

Eren laughed, running his hand along the arched entrance to the maze. “Bushes make a lot of noise, okay? The little leaves go swish in the wind, and there’s always animals and birds rustling around in them. Not as good as trees, in terms of conversation.” 

“I— what? Shouldn’t that be— How-” Levi threw his hands up in the air. “You do not make _any_ sense.” 

“I know!!” 

There was a long moment of pause as they tried to figure out if they were going in circles or not. Apparently, this “simple” maze was turning out to be a bigger adversary that originally anticipated. Eren tried keeping one hand on the wall, but he kept taking it off or forgetting which hand he was using. There was no way _Levi_ was going to touch those bushes. God only knew what had been on them before him. 

“Y’know, Levi, you kinda remind me of a tree,” Eren hummed, eyes widening comically when he realized his mistake, “Not in a bad way, I swear!!! You just, like, you’re quiet. And a good listener!” 

The older boy huffed indignantly, elbowing the younger with a bit more force then necessary. “I’m not quiet. There’s just not a lot of people worth talking to.” 

Eren gasped dramatically and dodged the ensuing jab sent his way. “You’re talking to me right now! Does that mean _I’m_ worth talking to?” 

“Depends. Do you still think I’m a tree?” 

“I didn’t say you are a tree, I just said you’re kind of similar to one!! You’re like a…” Eren pursed his lips, humming in thought. “A beech.” 

“Oh, now I’m a beach??” 

“Not a beach!! A beech! B-E-E-C-H. We had one here for a while, until people started carving into it too much and it toppled in a thunderstorm because it was only about 9 or 10 feet tall. Beeches grow really slowly, or at least the American variety does. They’re also really hard to split or chop and they’re quite flexible, but they can’t stand too much sun or any kind of urban pollution. So, like, they don’t do well around big cities or anywhere with humans’ chaos. Sound familiar?” 

“When did you turn into a fucking tree encyclopedia? And are you calling me short?” 

Eren laughed again, but this time it wasn’t just light chuckles. No, the brunette was full on snort-giggling, and had actually stopped walking to hold onto his sides. “Tha—that’s the— oh my God— _that’s_ one t-thing you got out of that?!” 

“You said they grow slowly!!” Levi huffed and looked away, trying to push down the butterflies in his stomach from hearing Eren’s objectively cute laugh. 

“They do get tall…… eventually!!” 

Ok, that warranted a kick to the shin. “I’m plenty tall already, thank you!! Not all of us can be almost 2 meters away from the ground, you fucking giant. _Garçons cis stupides et leur taille…_ ” (Stupid cis boys and their height…) 

“Oooh, what does that mean?” 

“Nothing you need to worry your lofty ass tree-head about. Now come on, I think I see the center.” 

Eren chuckled for a final time before running to catch up to Levi. It only took another few corners until they reached a circular spot that was thankfully clear of hedges. There was a bronze Nativity scene statue in the center, as well as a bench or two around it. They both started heading for one of them, collapsing onto the worn wood like it was water in a desert. 

“This was a terrible idea,” Levi groaned as he draped his backpack over the back of the bench, “We’ve been away for wayyyy too long, they’re gonna know something’s up.” 

“Nah, the health office is pretty hard to find, so if they ask, we can just say you went the wrong way and I didn’t realize. They probably won’t care though, because they’re too busy with lunch chaos to notice. We still have around half an hour until the bell rings.” 

“Shouldn’t we, like, bandage my finger or something though?” 

“Yeah, that’s a good idea. Hold on a sec.” Eren started rummaging through his backpack, which he had unceremoniously dropped in the dirt. He pulled out a pencil bag and a little box of band-aids, the latter of which he opened and gave to Levi. “Sorry about them being Sanrio characters, it’s just the first box I threw in my bag. A little girl I used to babysit gave them to me a while ago, I think.” 

Levi raised an eyebrow, trying to picture Eren babysitting small children. It was weird. “And the bag is for…?” 

“Oh!! Right, it’s just my regular pencil pouch, but it does have Neosporin in it, to stop infections and stuff.” The brunette unzipped his bag and pulled out a yellow and white squeeze tube, then took the band-aid that Levi had halfway opened. He squeezed some sort of gel onto it, then tentatively reached for the older boy’s hand, who jerked it away. 

“I can do it myself, jeez.” 

“The cut’s on your left hand and you’re left-handed, that’s really hard to do. Easier to just let me slap it on there, and I know how to stop it from slipping off.” 

Levi was surprised by the fact that Eren had picked up on that little detail. Once again, it appeared the brunette was more attentive than Levi’d originally thought. Reluctantly, he held out his hand, shivering slightly when he felt warm fingers brush against his own. 

“Oooh, you got a Badtz Maru one, that’s funny…… and, kinda weird here, but you have nice hands,” Eren muttered, crisscrossing the adhesive ends of the bandage so that they stopped just above the knuckle on Levi’s ring finger, “Dunno why they’re so cold though, it’s a relatively warm day.” 

“It’s early fucking November, of course I’m cold!! It was snowing not even a week ago!” 

“Nah, it’s a bit of a warm spell. Just wait until December and January, that’s when things get—” The brunette stopped for moment and looked at Levi inquisitively. “Do you use Celsius or Fahrenheit?” 

Levi furrowed his eyebrows. “Celsius, mostly, but I’m starting to get a handle on Fahrenheit. Why?” 

“No reason, just wondering which one I should use when talking about the weather with you.” 

There Eren goes again, being surprisingly considerate. Levi found himself flushing and looking for a distraction or something to change the topic, which was more than a bit uncharacteristic of him. His eyes landed on the still-opened pencil bag in front of him. 

“Is that one of those invisible ink pens?” he asked, trying to sound casual. It probably didn’t work, but it was the thought that counts. 

Eren nodded and pulled it out, fidgeting with the lightbulb at the top of the cap. “Yeah, you write with it and then use a black-light to see it. I use it for writing stuff on my arm in a hurry, because…well, you know why. Just shine the light on it, and boom, the reminder that I need to do my science homework.” He laughed nervously, keeping his gaze fixed on the pen in his hands. “Actually, ummmm........ can I- tell you a secret? Just, don’t tell anyone else.” 

Levi tried to give him something reminiscent of a small, supportive smile, but it had been so long that his face felt funny doing it. “I won’t tell.” 

“My Soulmate doesn’t talk much, but when he does, I always write back with the invisible ink. I know he can’t see it and he probably thinks I’m a giant asshole for never replying, and that’s totally u-understandable. I just…… I don’t like ignoring him. It hurts, y’know?” Eren was almost rambling by this point, and Levi could see his eyes getting a little glassy. “And s-sometimes I just write whatever I want to him, just to feel a little less alone. I- I like drawing f-flowers and then lighting up my arm so I can see it, even though I know the other person will never get the chance to. Some days, I wonder if m-maybe I’d li-like to meet him. Just to say… I’m sorry. He doesn’t— I don’t—” 

“Both of you are in bad situations,” Levi began, grimacing as he tried to remember how to comfort someone properly. The last person that had started crying while he was there was Mikasa, when they found out about their mom’s diagnosis, (or adopted mom, in her case) but they’d both been crying, so it didn’t really count. “But listen, Eren, it’s really thoughtful of you to be doing things like that, even if your Soulmate can’t see it. I think… maybe, one day, he will go to a club or something, and his arms will be filled with glow-in-the-dark flowers. Or maybe, when you do finally meet in person, you can explain everything.” 

“We can’t ever meet,” Eren hiccupped, trying fruitlessly to wipe his tears away with his sleeves, “My dad would never let that happen.” 

“Do you want to know how I know that’s false?” 

The brunette looked at him with emerald eyes that shouldn’t have been so pained. He was mourning for a love he thought he’d never get to experience; a friend he so clearly wanted to make, but couldn’t. In that moment, Levi felt like he could have gone straight to the Headmaster’s office and kicked the shit out of Eren’s father, just to make the younger boy happy again. 

“My máman always says that fate works in mysterious ways. Call it what you want: destiny, God’s plan, a predetermined future, but your Soulmate is the other part of your story. It’s in the name. The other person that writes on your skin is a big chunk of how your life is going to be. They’re going to be someone important to you, be it a friend, boyfriend, enemy, whatever. Meeting them is something that’s _going_ to happen, no matter what path you choose or how long it takes to get there.” 

Eren sniffled and nodded, trying desperately to smile despite the snot running down his face. “Th- thank you. That makes me feel a lot better. I— can I hug you?” 

God, it should have been impossible for one person to be so considerate and nice. There was no way Levi had the capacity to turn him down. 

“Yes. Just don’t get—” 

He was cut off by Eren diving for him, arms encircling his waist like he was the best thing on the entire planet. For a moment, Levi panicked, and tried to twist the more sensitive part of his chest away, but thankfully Eren put his chin on his shoulder. 

“—snot on me…” 

Tentatively, Levi returned the hug, resisting the urge to just pat Eren’s back awkwardly. 

“Thank you, Levi. You’re really nice.” 

“Just trying to help, kid. You shouldn’t have to put up with this shit at all.” 

Neither should you!” Eren cried, loud enough that Levi was concerned about people hearing, “I mean, I don’t think you should have to be put in this awful place! You shouldn’t be punished just because you’re… you’re gay. I know I’m supposed to never say things like that, but…… I don’t think it should matter. It’s something you can’t change, just like how I can’t change my Soulmate.” 

Levi snorted, gently trying to push the older boy off of him. “I’m not gay, dumbass.” 

“Y-you aren’t?! How did you get put on this track then?” 

“I just… don’t really feel a particular attraction one way or the other.” He sighed, before shaking his head. “But that’s a story for another time. Come on, we need to get out of here and start heading back.” 

Eren sniffled and pulled back, trying to choke out something that resembled a laugh. “You’re so red!!” 

“Shut up, it’s just because you’re a furnace and I’m freezing.” 

“Yeah, you’re right. You ready to face the hedges again?” 

Levi groaned and stood up, slinging his backpack over one shoulder. “I doubt it, but we don’t really have a choice. Let’s go, brat.” 

The taller boy laughed — a real laugh, this time, though it was sort of watery — and Levi swore it sounded like the best thing on earth. He knew, with a weird sense of certainty, that Eren _deserved_ to be laughing like that all the time. 

Levi was going to do everything in his power to keep it that way. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We love a good trauma dump ^-^

**Author's Note:**

> Alright!! Thanks for reading!! I live off of positive attention and validation from others, so if you liked it, feel free to leave a comment or kudos. Again, this may be shit, but I'm thinking of it as a learning experience for myself!! Don't hesitate to check my ass if I mess up, please and thank you.
> 
> Have a great day/night!! ~MatchstiQs


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